


Flipping Out

by AWildOreo



Series: Shadow Pupeteering (Persona 4) [2]
Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26036587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AWildOreo/pseuds/AWildOreo
Summary: What happens when a person denies their Shadow in this somewhat alternate universe?Hint: It's not the same as normal
Series: Shadow Pupeteering (Persona 4) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1888702
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Flipping Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IrvingIV](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrvingIV/gifts).



> My friend and I were talking on Discord and he gave me sort of what happens when a shadow gets denied, and he implied Yosuke denied his as well, so here's that story

“ _I never got to tell Hana-chan… that he was a real dip.”_

Yosuke Hanamura was shocked. He and Yu Narukami had entered the weird TV world for a second time after his senpai Saki Konishi died, and he never expected to be seeing monsters, meeting Shadows, and hearing voices.

Especially Saki’s voice. Telling him that she hated him.

“ _I was only nice to him because his dad was the manager, but he took it completely the wrong way!_ ”

“No…” Yosuke breathed, “these can’t be Senpai’s thoughts! She never acted like this back at Junes, she was always cheerful and nice!”

“Oh boo hoo! I feel so sorry for myself! Ha, what a joke!”

Yosuke snapped his head toward the voice, and across the store, a yellow-eyed copy stared right back.

“Of course,” the copy continued, “that’s not what you’re feeling at all, right?”

Yosuke saw their bear companion, Teddie, shivering. “Yosuke’s Shadow? But it doesn’t seem friendly…”

The Shadow ignored Teddie, still looking straight at Yosuke. “You say you wanted to come back because you wanted to find out what happened to Saki-senpai, but really you were just bored!” It then walked up to Yosuke, placed its hands on his shoulders, and smirked. “You think Inaba is just so _boring_ , so you decided to come here, just for kicks!”

Yosuke was fuming, who was this guy, saying all of this stuff? That wasn’t what he thought at all! …Right?

Something deep inside Yosuke was telling him that the Shadow was right, that he should agree with it.

Yosuke decided to ignore it and shoved the Shadow away with an angry grunt. “You’re lying! There’s no way I would think that!”

Yosuke’s Shadow crossed its arms and narrowed its eyes. “Hmph. You know I’m right, I’m you after all. No use in playing hero in front of me.”

Yosuke felt himself get angrier towards the yellow-eyed version of him, and he growled out, “You’re not me.”

He barely heard Yu’s Shadow say “Hanamura-san, no.”

The Shadow’s eyebrows shot up. “What did you say?”

“I said,”

Yosuke lunged at his Shadow, enraged, all inhibitors suddenly gone. “YOU’RE NOT ME!”

Yosuke’s Shadow’s eyes widened, and its entire body seemed to flicker. Before the crazed boy could reach it, however, someone grabbed the back of Yosuke’s collar and yanked him back. Turning to see who would dare stop him, he saw Yu, brandishing his golf club.

“Hanamura, get a hold of yourself!” Yu ordered. Then, turning his attention to his Shadow, asked, “Do you know what’s going on?”

Yu didn’t see, but the Shadow nodded. “It’s called a Flip. The Shadow tries to get its other self to accept it, but sometimes it doesn’t work, and the host denies it. This causes a person to start becoming a shadow, and if the denial is strong enough, the transformation completes, and the original Shadow vanishes, as the host becomes what they sought to deny.”

Teddie beamed. “Wow, Sensei’s Shadow is so smart! But… you just showed up and Sensei accepted you without much thought. How did you know that? I didn’t!”

“…I don’t know. I just did. Maybe since I’m a Shadow self, I knew it by instinct.”

Yosuke couldn’t stand listening to them talk any longer. He threw himself at Yu, trying to grab his neck, but was blocked by the golf club.

“Why does everything happen to me!?” Yosuke yelled, “The one person who didn’t treat me like trash is dead, and now _you_ get all of these powers because your Shadow was actually cool! Well, no more! I’ll destroy everything in my way!”

Yu glanced over to his Shadow and they nodded at each other.

“ **Zio!** ” They cried in unison.

A bolt of lightning slammed right into Yosuke, sending him flying over his Shadow and into a wall.

“Hanamura,” Yu called out, “you need to calm down! If you don’t, you’ll _be_ a Shadow and then you’ll never be able to leave!”

The boy was met with a blast of wind in reply, along with the roar of the boy, whose eyes were beginning to glow faintly yellow.

Yosuke’s Shadow flickered again.

Shadow Yu helped the other Shadow up. “You didn’t have to be so antagonistic…” he said.

Shadow Yosuke grunted. “I was just telling the truth. Yosuke really does think these things. I just didn’t think he’d go crazy and Flip ‘cause of it.”

Yosuke and Yu continued at it, trading wind and lightning attacks. Both were beginning to show their exhaustion. Eventually, Yosuke ripped the golf club out of Yu’s hands.

“Ha! I’m better than you,” Yosuke’s boast was slightly distorted. “I didn’t need a stupid golf club to beat you; and now, you’ll be the first to go!”

Yu readied himself. “I don’t need one either,” he said quietly. He then rushed forward and decked Yosuke right in the face, knocking him out.

Good job Sensei,” Teddie squealed, “you won!”

As Yosuke came to, he couldn’t remember what happened. _There was the fight outside the store, then we heard that stuff, and-oh._

Yosuke got up and limped toward his other self. “I guess I should say sorry. Yeah, I suppose some of that stuff you said was true, like how I find Inaba boring, but you make it sound like I completely hate the place! And if there’s one thing you _were_ wrong about, it’s when you said that I didn’t come here to find out what happened to Saki-senpai. So what I guess I’m saying is, you’re me, and I’m you.”

As Yosuke said those words, a warmth filled his heart, and his Shadow gave a genuine smile.

“Congratulations,” Yu’s shadow said, “you accepted yourself!”

Yu smiled, then his eyes widened as he said with dread, “oh shoot, Satonaka-san! With all this excitement, I forgot she was out there waiting for us!”

Yosuke’s Shadow laughed. “Wow! I can’t believe you actually forgot about her! Well, better hurry up so we don’t leave her waiting for longer!”

The five ran back to the entrance as fast as they could with what energy they had left.


End file.
